A native of New York City, Bowman was raised in Westport, Connecticut and studied illustration and photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, from which she graduated with a BFA in 1971.
In 1987 she illustrated The House in the Snow by M. J. Engh, which became her first work to be published; other books for which she provided illustrations include The Night the Bells Rang by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock and Night of the Full Moon by Gloria Whelan.
[1] Bowman has most notably depicted six members of the United States House of Representatives during her career, providing their official portraits in various roles for display in the United States Capitol.
These include Collin Peterson, as chairman of the United States House Committee on Agriculture;[2] Dave Camp, as chairman of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means;[3] Jim Oberstar, as chairman of the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure;[4] Sam Graves, as chairman of the United States House Committee on Small Business;[5] Spencer Bachus, as chairman of the United States House Committee on Financial Services;[6] and Paul Ryan, as chairman of the United States House Committee on the Budget.
[7] Other institutions which own examples of her work include the Minnesota Supreme Court, for which she has painted Rosalie Wahl,[8] and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions;[1] she has also depicted Minnesota Supreme Court justice Russell A.